Exonerated death row inmate back in custody, involved in human trafficking investigation

by Austin Prickett

Curtis McCarty, 55, is back behind bars and at the center of a human trafficking and child pornography investigation in Oklahoma City. (Oklahoma County Jail)

A former death row inmate who was exonerated in 2007 is back behind bars on drug complaints and at the center of a human traficking investigation.

First reported by JohnTV, Curtis McCarty, 55, was taken into custody April 8 on a bench warrant for missing a sentencing date for a 2016 arrest for possession of methamphetamine. McCarty was convicted of first degree murder in the 1982 death of 18-year-old Pamela Willis, according to the Innocence Project.

A search warrant issued April 19 reveals that a police were contacted in late March by an advocate for individuals in prison and death row. The woman stated she had located McCarty to be interviewed by a French news team for a story on his death row experiences. She found McCarty living with a woman at a metro motel.

Through the woman's contact with McCarty he began to confide with her. McCarty allegedly stated that he had become associated with the "Irish Mob" and that the woman he had been found with had been forced into prostitution.

He also claimed that the "Irish Mob" had placed child pornography on his computer. The advocate became concerned about the way McCarty was treating the woman with him and then contacted police.

McCarty is currently being held in the Oklahoma County Jail on the drug complaints. He has not been charged in connection to human trafficking.